Walk in My Direction
by thecivilunrest
Summary: I won't tell your heart where to go, or make it feel something it won't. /Or, 'The Vow' Wally/Artemis style.
1. one

**Author: **thecivilunrest

**Fandom: **Young Justice

**Story Title: **"Walk in My Direction"

**Summary: **I won't tell your heart where to go, or make it feel something it won't.

**Character/Relationship(s): **Wally West/Artemis Crock, M'gann M'orzz/Conner Kent, Kaldur'ahm/Lorena Marquez, Zatanna Zatara/Babs Gordon, Ollie Queen/Dinah Lance, Mary West/Randy West, Dick Grayson, Roy Harper, Lian Harper, Jade Crock

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Language

**Story Word Count: **2000+ (so far)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything, I promise. The title/summary belong to Thriving Ivory and Young Justice belongs to Warner Brothers and other affiliated titles.

**Notes: **This will be long. This will be cheesy. This will be full of angst. But I don't care. The entire time I was watching _The Vow_, when I wasn't crying, I was thinking about how I could twist this into a feasible Wally/Artemis story. And I think I've done a decent job. We might not get to see all of the couples that I listed above up close and personal, but they're the ones that either have the most to do with the story and/or canon in this universe. This will be three parts at the least, probably five at the most. Anything more than that and I'll get skittish. So yeah, I hope everyone enjoys and doesn't think that I'm nuts. (:

_Walk in My Direction_

Wally's always had this thing about an instant. He's always been faster than the average guy—thanks, super speed—and so he knows first hand how fast an instant can be.

Sure there's instant rice, which takes fifteen minutes to cook, or instant pudding which takes an hour. But for him an instant has always been an _instant. _

Like how one instant can be the deciding factor of whether or not he saved someone's life. It had been an instant, a split second decision on Nightwing's part to entrust Wally to who his secret identity was. An instant was all that it had taken him to decide that, flaws and all, Artemis was someone that he had wanted to be with. He'd grabbed her shoulders that day and had kissed her for only an instant before he had pulled back and tried to apologize. That had been an instant that had turned into dozens, thousands, millions.

So when he was on the phone with Artemis that night, the last thing that she had said to him was, "I love you, see you at home," he was about to hang up when he heard the screeching of breaks and Artemis saying, "_Oh, shit_," and then the line went dead.

It had taken only an instant for her head to hit the windshield.

.x.

The Flash (_The Flash?_) was standing at the end of her bed. That was the first thing that she noticed. The red of his costume drew her eye, the only spot of color in sterile white. Then she noticed a doctor with a notepad, the fact that she was in a hospital bed.

Artemis frowned. What was she _doing_ here? Did she get here when she'd tried to help those kids in the gym? Had it been those electric monkey things? The last thing that she remembered was firing the arrow that would have saved Kid Flash's life and then... nothing. A huge, empty sea of nothing.

Mom was going to kill her. She didn't even know that Artemis had sneaked out and now she was stuck in the freaking _hospital. _Grand.

"Oh, you're awake," the Flash breathed (why did he sound so relieved, _why was he even here, __**why did nothing make sense**_) and the doctor straightened.

"Artemis?"

"Why is _he _here?" she asked, saying the first thing that popped into her head. At least seeing Batman would have made sense, here in Gotham, but the Flash? She only saw him in the news. His costume looked different than it did in the news, though. Maybe it was just because this was the first time that she had ever seen it in person.

"Oh, he saved you, took you out of the wreckage and here to the hospital himself," the doctor answered, placing a soothing hand on Artemis' arm. She moved her arm away. In a lower voice the nurse continued, "He's stayed here for the whole three days that you've been in a coma too."

"Three. Days?" she croaked. Three whole days. Mom was going to have her _head_.

"You were in a car accident, honey."

"A car accident? But I can't even drive!"

The doctor and Flash exchanged a look, before the doctor said, "You were in a car accident," the Flash informed her slowly. "You were driving home after work and a car rammed into you from behind. You weren't wearing a seat belt," here the Flash's voice got tight, almost like this was personal for him, "and your head hit the windshield."

"We had to do some tests on you," the doctor informed her, "and put you in a medically induced coma to help reduce the swelling, but you should be good as new."

"Is memory loss possible, Doc?" Flash asked.

"Yes. And at this point... I think that this might be a symptom of Artemis'."

Artemis was barely listening to them anymore, even as they continued to talk. She was in a hospital... had been for three days... Her mother should have been notified. If she'd been driving then she'd obviously had some kind of identification on her, and they would have known to call her mother. They would have _had _to.

Paula would _never _had left her stay this long in a hospital without at the very least coming to visit her. Artemis would have expected her mom to be by her bedside, not the Flash.

"Can I talk to Artemis alone for a moment, please?" Flash asked the doctor, and she obliged.

"Artemis... do you know who I am?"

She just stared at him blankly, because who _wouldn't _know who he was? He was on the news weekly, saved the world via the Justice League bi-monthly, and whose merchandise was sold everywhere. Duh, she knew him.

"You're the Flash."

He looked surprised. Even though half of his face was covered, she still saw the way that his lips thin and how the bottom half of his face drained of all color. Was he expecting a different answer... really? "Now where's Mom? Does she even know that I'm alright? It's been three days, I can't let her think that I left like-" she paused, because the Flash doesn't need to know about all of her familial drama. He'd probably blame her for it.

"Artemis..." the Flash's voice grew gentle. "Your mother passed away. She died two years ago."

She sucked in a breath. Of course she hadn't died two years ago, Artemis had just seen her that night talking to Dad... only, she'd been in a car accident and lost her memory. She hadn't remembered that either, though.

She didn't remember anything.

Artemis looked at the Flash's face, trying to decipher any sort of lie, but she couldn't find anything there except pain and worry. He was telling the truth. Her mother was dead and she had no idea who she was.

That was when she started to cry.

.x.

Artemis pulled herself together quickly, and Wally was almost surprised. The first time that she had learned that Paula had died she'd cried for two days straight before making the funeral arrangements and putting everything that needed to be put into place into place.

But she didn't know who he was, she didn't remember him. At least, not as the Flash. It'd only been pretty recently that he'd dropped the Kid from Kid Flash, though, so her memory probably didn't reach back that far yet.

But as long as she still knew who Wally West was... that was all that mattered. She needed to remember him. _He _needed her to remember him.

Glancing around Wally shut her curtains.

"What are you doing?" she asked, but he didn't answer. Instead he took off his cowl and her eyes widened. "Why are you doing that?" she whispered.

The words hit Wally like a slap to the face. "What? Don't you remember... me?"

"No. I don't. I have no idea who you are. You're still just the Flash to me."

She didn't remember him. _Artemis didn't remember him._

There was a time that they had both forgotten one another, but that was not even the same thing. Their memory loss hadn't been because of a medical trauma, it had been temporary, and one of them wasn't stuck remembering everything that the other forgot.

Wally had to grab the edge of her hospital bed so that his knees didn't collapse. _Artemis didn't remember him. _

"Did I... Do I know you?" she asked.

"We're engaged," he informed her. "Have been for a month now."

Artemis raised her eyebrows. "We're... I'm supposed to be marrying the Flash? How..?" she shook her head.

"The wedding's going to be off, of course," Wally told her. _At least until you remember me_. "We were going to have a long engagement anyway. We're both still in school."

Artemis nodded, like this all made sense. Wally put back on his cowl. He couldn't stand her look at his face and still not recognizing him. The mask made everything feel better.

"You aren't just some freaky stalker, though, right? You were really my fiancee?"

_Were_. "Yeah, I was. If you don't believe me I can have Batman tell you. Or anyone from the League, really. Black Canary, Nightwing, Arsenal, Green Arrow..."

"No, I believe you. I just." Artemis bit her lip. "Where do I live now? Now that Mom's..." Artemis' face crumpled up in pain, but she straightened it out again quickly, like she didn't want him to see.

"We live in Central City. Together. You're in law school..."

"A lawyer. Me?"

"That's what I said."

Artemis glared at him, and Wally had to bite back a smile because _none of this was funny. _But that glare was so like her that it made him hopeful. Maybe things could go back to how they used to be. The doctor said that the memory loss was most likely temporary anyway. Thank God.

"We're on a team together, a team of superheroes, and-"

"_Me? _A _hero_?"

"Yeah. You. We were on a team together, called Young Justice, back when we were fifteen and we've been on it ever since. Though she all got inducted into the League when we turned eighteen..."

"I'm on the Justice League."

"Pretty much." Wally thanked God that this was a hospital, and as such no one was listening to them. The results of this conversation getting out could be devastating, but he had faith in the people of Central City anyway.

Dr. Rosenbaum stuck his head in between the curtain at that moment, and Wally stepped aside so that he could walk in. He probably had some things to tell them. Good things, hopefully.

"You can be released now, Artemis. I've talked to my supervisors and everything will be a-ok. Have you figured out what you want to do after you leave here? I'd recommend going through your daily life, going back to what it used to be before the accident."

Artemis glanced at Wally before saying, "That sounds... reasonable."

It was a start.

.x.

Artemis hated the mandate that stated that all hospital patients had to leave in a wheelchair. She was plenty able to walk, damn it. The Flash—Wally, oh God that was going to take some getting used to—had come pick her up in his civilian clothes. He was going to be taking her to their apartment, the one that they shared.

Artemis couldn't imagine what the place looked like. Really, she couldn't. The only thing that she could think of was Mom's apartment and how empty it was.

Once she was through the sliding glass doors Artemis stood up and put the bag of clothes that Wally had brought over her shoulders.

"You're really going to like the apartment," Wally was telling her, and Artemis nodded, unsure of what to say.

She didn't even really know what to _do _with Wally. When he'd finally came and visited her in his civvies, without the mask, she'd noticed how he'd looked at her... so hopeful and sweet and she thought she saw something like love in his gaze.

It made her uncomfortable, just a little bit. She hardly knew him. At all.

She didn't even know if she _wanted _to know him. He was kind of obnoxious and the Flash and just—he didn't seem like her type. But evidently she'd liked him enough to almost marry him at one point, so that was something.

Central City was so different from Gotham that it was almost like being in a whole different world all together. The air tasted different, the sky seemed more blue. The buildings were newer and less claustrophobic. Gotham still had traces of colonial America, but Central? It was new, too new.

But it looked safer and most citizens didn't walk with their shoulders hunched, glaring at the ground like the sidewalk was the source of all their problems. So that was something.

"Where are we going?" she asked, because he was driving away from the residential part of town.

"We're going to Rhode Island."

"Rhode Island? I thought you said we lived here."

"We do." He smiled at her from the driver's seat, attempting to be comforting. Artemis' stomach rumbled unpleasantly. He wasn't helping.

"Everyone's just been dying to see you, but I didn't want to overwhelm you at the hospital."

_But I won't be whelmed ever seeing people that I don't know but know me, _Artemis thought, and then she frowned. Who even said 'whelmed'? That didn't make sense. It wasn't even a word. She took a deep sharp breath through her nose.

"So we're going to drive there?"

"Nope, zeta tubes."

"Oh." She'd never ridden in one of those before. Or, she had, but she didn't remember doing it. At least that was something.


	2. two

**Author: **thecivilunrest

**Fandom: **Young Justice

**Story Title: **"Walk in My Direction"

**Summary: **I won't tell your heart where to go, or make it feel something it won't.

**Character/Relationship(s): **Wally West/Artemis Crock, M'gann M'orzz/Conner Kent, Kaldur'ahm/Lorena Marquez, Zatanna Zatara/Babs Gordon, Ollie Queen/Dinah Lance, Mary West/Randy West, Dick Grayson, Roy Harper, Lian Harper, Jade Crock

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Language

**Story Word Count: **2800+ (this chapter), 5000+ (so far)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything recognizable. Young justice belongs to Warner Brothers and all other affiliated titles.

**Notes: **Ahaha, I know. I suck. But really at least I finished it? I don't know where the time went! But anyway, thank Mori for this chapter, because she's the one that finally bugged me enough to finish it, even though this thing gave me so many problems. (: (I kind of hate it, especially the beginning. Welp.) But thank you all so much for your response to the last chapter. It really helped!

_Walk in My Direction_

Artemis' heart was thumping loudly in her ears when she saw all of the people that were at the party. For a beat there was total and complete silence, as they stared at her and she stared back, and then the voices started up again. The medley of their voices made her head pound.

A green woman was the first one to approach her, and Artemis had to steel herself so that she didn't run away. These people were her friends once. They were her teammates. She used to trust them.

But she didn't now. She had no idea who in the hell they were, and the fact that they were all so familiar with her was frightening.

"I'm M'gann," the woman said, and something clicked in Artemis' brain. She must have been a Martian. That explained the green skin. M'gann hesitated for a moment—Artemis could see the conflict flicker on her face—before she reached out and hugged her. She smelled the way Artemis always expected a 50s housewife to smell, like sugar cookies and a flowery perfume.

She tried not to tense up. She wasn't used to letting people hug her, to having physical affection. Dad was never into hugs, and neither was Jade. Mom had hugged her once in a while, but her hugs had been saved for special occasions and not for every day use.

Not that she would ever hug her mother again. A lump suddenly appeared in her throat as she realized that she would never hug her mother again. Her mother's death still hadn't sunk in yet.

"Artemis," a black haired woman breathed, letting go of a red-head woman's hand as she did so. This, for a moment, distracted Artemis from the grief that she had hardly let herself pour out. "I've missed you. We've _all _missed you."

That seemed to be the cue that everyone had been waiting. Artemis hadn't realized how many people that she must have known, but there were more than she ever thought she would know. They surrounded her, and she lost count of the number of hugs that she received, was overwhelmed by the amount of names she was expected to remember.

Even when she hadn't just had a massive head injury she wondered how she had remembered all of these people.

The pounding in her head got louder with every person that had to introduce themselves to her, that had to hug her, and eventually Artemis had to walk away, a symphony of pain roaring in her temples.

.x.

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" Dick asked him as they watched Artemis walk away. He was the only person on the team that hadn't gone up to Artemis, and Wally was thankful for that. One less person for him to watch her stare at blankly.

"No," he sighed. "I'm not sure. But I don't know what else to do, and everyone wanted to see her, and..."

"And you were hoping that seeing everyone might jump start her memory. Right."

"It's been a few days and she _still _doesn't remember me, Nightwing."

Dick scanned his face before shaking his head. "You can't force her to. This is a really big deal."

"I'm not trying to force anything, I just... I just want her to remember me."

"Brain injuries don't work like that, pal." He shook his head. "And if you really think that bringing Artemis in front of all these people is going to help, you're dead wrong. You need to go check up on her. I'll get rid of these guys."

"Thanks, man." Dick clapped Wally on the shoulder before shaking his head and talking to the rest of the League.

It took a while to find Artemis, but eventually he saw that she was in what used to be her old room, back when they had rooms here. His heart jumped in his throat, because maybe she came here because she remembered, but he took one look at her face and knew that it was just an accident.

Her arms were wrapped around her leg, and her eyes are wide, making her look younger than she was.

He slid down the wall to sit next to her. She didn't scoot away from him, and he decided to take that as something. Something good.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

She shook her head, took a deep breath. "I just want to go home."

Later, after they had gone down the zeta tubes and were driving in their car, it occurred to him that he actually had no idea where she meant.

.x.

The apartment was nicer than she expected it to be. The place is the exact opposite of her and mom's home. There the walls were virtually bare, the furniture for functionality, the TV to fit in.

Here everything was bright. There were books on the walls and comics and movies lining the walls. The couch and tables and futons all look mismatched. She was sure that she saw a dark, dank stain on the back of the couch, but Wally moved a blanket over it when he saw her staring that she wasn't sure what exactly it could be.

"Home sweet home," he informed her, smiling so widely that it looked like it would split his face in half.

"It's... nice," she said eventually, and tried to ignore the way his face lit up.

"Kind of a hole in the wall, but you were the one who picked it out."

She nodded, trying to imagine herself falling in love with the apartment. It wasn't very big, and everything that looked nice had obviously been put here after they moved in. Sure there was a decorative molding on the ceiling, which meant that it was pre-War, but other than that there couldn't have been anything that had been particularly appealing.

"Your mom was the one that convinced you, though," Wally tried again, this time speaking more softly this time. "She loved the stuff on the ceiling."

Of course she did, Artemis thought. Paula had loved architecture, had always loved pulling Jade and Artemis around Gotham and looking at all the buildings, explaining the way the arches and the granite had been stuck one on top of the other, creating buildings with her hands.

She couldn't remember ever asking her mom that instead of being a convict, if she had wanted to be an architect instead. Maybe she had, but she had forgotten it. Yet another thing that this accident had stolen from her.

"If you're hungry," he continued, when it became obvious that she wasn't going to speak again. "There's a drawer full of take-out menus. The places that have a star in the corner have memorized our number, so if you just tell them my name they'll know what you want. You won't have to order anything."

"What?"

Out of everything that she had heard that evening, even after going to that godforsaken party, this seemed like the most unbelievable.

"Well, we eat out. A lot. You can't cook anything but toast and cereal, and I _definitely _can't cook so take out is pretty much a must. And we order so much, because, as you so tastefully put it once, I 'eat more than an elephant and a whale combined' most places give us a half off discount." She stared at him. "It's a speedster thing. I have to eat more than the average person because my metabolism is so fast. I'd starve to death otherwise. Most of our income goes to my food, actually."

"You sound... expensive."

"Yeah," he chuckled. "I guess I am. But I'm worth it too. Trust me." He winked at her, and she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

"I'm not hungry. Thanks though. I'm just... tired."

"Okay. Bedroom's... that way." He pointed behind him with his thumb.

She nodded and walked behind him, trying not to notice how Wally watched her go. This was so confusing. She wouldn't mind it if she just slept forever. Or if this was all a dream.

Only when she had already closed the door behind her did she realize that she had no idea where her clothes were, and how she was supposed to go to sleep in what she was wearing. Opening the closet, she realized that she wasn't going to find any pajamas there, but her wardrobe looked like it always had. Boots and jeans and shirts with a few skirts and dresses mixed in, for special occasions only.

There was a chest of drawers, but all she could find were huge t-shirts that were obviously Wally's, and pairs of her underwear and his boxers.

"Wally!" she called, realizing that she could not do this without his help. She didn't want to ask him for any, but she had no choice seeing as how she'd already searched the place for pajamas like a cop with a warrant.

"Yeah?"

He showed up faster than he should have. _Another speedster thing_, she thought with a trace of bitterness that surprised her.

"Where are my pajamas?"

"Um. You don't really have any. You generally wear one of my t-shirts and a pair of my boxers." His cheeks looked red, which of course made hers heat up as well. This was the capitol of Awkward Land, clearly.

"Well I have to have _some _of my own. So where are they? I'm not sleeping in jeans."

"Um," he repeated. "I think you have some..." he knelt down to the bottom drawer which, of course, was the one place that she hadn't looked. He handed her a scrap of black lace, which after a beat she realized was supposed to be her PJ's.

Her cheeks burned more. "Thanks," she said, wondering when in the hell she had ever gotten the idea in her mind to buy something like that. The... outfit looked like something that a Victoria's Secret Angel would wear, not her. Ridiculous.

But she put it on quickly, and tried to run past Wally as fast as she could, even though she knew that there probably wasn't anything there that he hadn't seen before.

.

When she woke up, the apartment sounded empty.

Artemis was used to empty apartments, the way that the lack of sound would ring in her ears, back home. But here, the silence was more like a wool blanket, thick and warm and not lonely.

She put on some shorts and a t-shirt—her own, thank you very much—and felt the wooden floor beneath her feet. This wasn't a dream, this was real, and she still didn't remember one goddamned thing about this place, other than what happened yesterday.

There was a box of blueberry muffins on the table, the words _Four Man's Bakery _written across the top. Her stomach growled, so she took one, and they were probably one of the most delicious things that she had ever remembered eating.

She looked around, and realized that Wally was really, truly gone. She finally felt like she could breathe again, and then immediately felt guilty. He had been trying so, so hard for her. For them.

There was a note on the coffee table, and she took another bite of muffin (they were _huge_) before she read, _Hey, sorry I had to go. I've got two classes today. But if you need more proof, look below_.

She lifted the note and saw a DVD, the sharpie smell still fresh off of them which meant that this was probably made pretty recently. Her mind went to the hospital, where she had accused him of possibly being a creepy stalker, and she felt bad. But she put the DVD in anyway, and began.

At first, the camera was shaky, and focusing on stone. "Okay," a male voice from behind the camera said. "We still owe Superboy for last week," it said.

"I do not know about this," a smoother, darker voice said from behind him. "This does not seem very fair..."

"Who cares?" a voice that sounded very familiar said. The camera whipped around to focus on him, and sure enough it was Wally. A younger version of herself stood next to him, arms cropped.

"It's just a joke, Kal," the voice from behind camera said. "And Miss M was totally in on it too, so it's not like we're hurting her or anything."

"You know she totally got it from that show that she always watches," Wally said, and Artemis rolled her eyes at him.

"He could have gotten it from _Punk'd_ too. Because _you're _the one that got him into the show in the first place," Artemis told him, and he glared at her.

"I still do not understand why we have to do it on camera," Kal argued.

"For the future generations of superheroes, so they will not forget" cameraman, in a faux serious tone, said, and it was hard to tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"Enough. If we are going to do this, let us do it." The camera is turned toward Kal, and Artemis was sure that she had seen yesterday, told them all. Wally grinned.

"When I count to three," the camera man whispered as they moved to another room. A huge TV and green couches were the first things that she noticed. The second thing was the couple making out on one of the said couches.

"One. Two. Three. NOW!" Camera man shouted, and there was a burst of black and white and blue that Artemis couldn't see anything on the screen, and the only thing that she heard was cackling laughter.

There was a slight pause, as if the DVD was waiting for a commercial break, before the next one started.

For a few seconds, all Artemis could focus on was a slightly older her, and a slightly older Wally on a bed kissing. Heavily. She had to fight the urge to cover her eyes, because it was just _weird _seeing yourself on the screen doing this, before the camera man spoke again, this time his voice slightly darker.

"At least Miss M and Superboy kept themselves _vertical _in public."

Wally and Artemis sprung apart. "You're a disgusting voyeur," Artemis watched herself glare into the camera. "And we're not in public, we're in my bedroom you... ugh!"

"Hey, don't be mad at me. It was all Zatanna's idea."

"_Zee!_"

"You said that you wouldn't rat me out!" a voice from off camera protested, and the sound of skin against skin told Artemis that someone's arm got slapped at that moment.

"Crossed my fingers, sorry." The voice was cheeky, suppressing laughter.

And then there was a tussle for the camera, which ended in blackness, and Artemis found her cheeks hurting from laughing.

These people, they really _had _been her friends. Even if they did randomly come and video tape things. _Private _ things.

There was another pause, and then the last one came into view. They were in the same place as the first one, rock walls and all.

"You've been acting weird this whole time," Artemis heard her voice saying. "And now we're coming back to the cave? Really? We haven't been here in..."

"Years. Yeah, I know," Wally told her. They were holding hands.

Artemis turned her head towards the camera. "And what's Nightwing doing here?" she asked. "With a camera, even! I swear if this is another try out for one of those stupid TV shows...

"I'm just the camera man," Nightwing told her, and then zoomed in on their faces. "Ignore me."

"It's not. I promise." Wally grabbed her hands and kissed her forehead.

"We met here when we were fifteen," he continued. "And so this place is special to me. So that's why we came back here. So we could come full circle. Artemis Crock," she heard herself gasp on the screen, and she gasped sitting on the couch, putting down her muffin for the first time since she had started watching these movies. Her throat felt thick, and she swallowed it, trying to focus on the screen. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" she heard herself shriek, and found herself looking happier than she had ever seen. "Of course."

Artemis didn't even bother to let him get up. Instead she launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing them both crashing to the floor.

"I hope you don't mind that I didn't ask your father first."

"Oh shut up," she muttered, and then kissed Wally long and fast and hard before everything just went black.

.x.

When Wally got back from class he found Artemis still sitting on the couch, a blanket around her and a half-eaten muffin sitting in front of her.

She looked up at him when he walked in.

"I really must have loved you a lot," she told him, and his heart twisted inside his chest, rivaling Nightwing for the most flexible award.

"Yeah. You really did."


	3. three

**Author: **thecivilunrest

**Fandom: **Young Justice

**Story Title: **"Walk in My Direction"

**Summary: **I won't tell your heart where to go, or make it feel something it won't.

**Character/Relationship(s): **Wally West/Artemis Crock, M'gann M'orzz/Conner Kent, Kaldur'ahm/Lorena Marquez, Zatanna Zatara/Babs Gordon, Ollie Queen/Dinah Lance, Mary West/Randy West, Dick Grayson, Roy Harper, Lian Harper, Jade Crock

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Language

**Story Word Count: **2000+ (this chapter)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything, I promise. The title/summary belong to Thriving Ivory and Young Justice belongs to Warner Brothers and other affiliated titles.

**Notes: **I promise I will update sooner when school is over! I've been so busy it's been insane, but here's the first chapter. It's only very lightly edited, so forgive me. But thank you all for your amazing reviews—they've really helped get this chapter out. Please keep them coming! (:

_Walk in My Direction_

The dreams started in the Cave that she had been the setting for the home videos that she had watched, and then they started going other places as well. Jungles and prisons, Star City and Gotham Academy became stars as well.

Faces, colors, blurs became the norm. There were expressions, tilts of people's voices, and they felt as comfortable and natural to her as her own skin and yet just as foreign as the life that she was currently living.

But no matter how clearly she dreamed of them, they wouldn't stick in her mind. The pictures would become blurry once she woke up. Tears would be in her eyes and her hands would be in fists, as if she was trying to grab them, but came up empty handed every time.

.x.

She'd come to loathe the doctor's office.

Artemis had never liked people in the medical profession. When she had gone to the nurse during school—a rare occurrence but sometimes unavoidable—the woman had asked here where she had gotten that bruise on her thigh or her elbow, or how the scrape under her eyebrow had gotten there. The answer "I'm training to be an assassin," had never been the right one, so she'd often said nothing at all to the probing questions.

The office was never very friendly either. A poster of a brain, divided and dissected and color coded, was on the wall. The bust of a human skull split wide open with everything on display didn't help matters either.

But worst of all was when the woman had asked her if her memory had come back. Other than the dreams, which Artemis hadn't found interesting enough to tell the doctor because she didn't consider them _memories_, not really, there had been nothing.

The first visit, Wally had come with her, and his face had fallen so low that Artemis' stomach had fallen right along with it. He hadn't come after that.

"By now, most people with the same sort of internal trauma as you remember _something_, Artemis," the doctor told her. "Why haven't _you_?"

The question haunted her, even as she walked the unfamiliar streets of Central City. She'd mumble an excuse at the time, a placeholder that would please anyone unfamiliar with her.

But she didn't know the real reason. Was it because she was afraid of what she would see? Her life seemed amazing in comparison how it had been, in a small, dank apartment in Gotham that had been filled with the ghosts of the people who had lived there first.

Artemis had no idea why she couldn't remember, but every time she tried to reach towards the times that Wally had talked to her about before eventually becoming silent, there was a thick, black wall of nothing.

It was awful, but no more awful than deciding to walk around Central City alone. She still had no idea where she was, no idea how to get home. Keystone wasn't like Gotham, which was all small grids and blocks that all looked like carbon copies on a map. The people that had built this city were random and added things that were unnecessary—such as parks and monuments—in places that didn't need a park or a monument.

Normally Artemis took a cab to get to her doctor's—which had been twice in the month since her accident—and Wally had driven her wherever else she needed to go, which hadn't been very many places. She'd only gotten her stitches out a week ago. And she hadn't wanted to ride alone in the car with him, not with the awkward silence that inevitably followed them no matter how hard he tried.

So she was lost. Horribly, horribly lost. She had no idea how to get home, and her phone had been lost in the crash and she hadn't gotten a new one yet. There were a bunch of chic cafes and shops and she'd never been in. That she could remember at least.

Her stomach growled, though, so she decided to go in one. After searching she saw a sign proclaiming that the place that it was plastered on was _Four Man's Bakery_. That was where the heavenly muffin that she'd eaten the other morning had been from, so it was as familiar as anything else here.

The place was crowded, but the line moved quickly and soon she was at the front. The cashier looked at her with recognition in his eyes. "Um, I want…" Artemis said, staring up at the menu as though she hadn't been doing that the entire time that she'd been in line.

"You don't want the usual?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"The usual? I have a usual." Artemis paused. "Yeah, I'll take the usual. That sounds perfect." She smiled at the idea that she had a usual somewhere, as though the contents of her meal might also help her remember everything else that she had forgotten.

As soon as she gotten the brown bag, which crinkled from the weight of her usual, she heard someone calling her name. "Artemis. _Artemis_! Over here!" A slightly familiar black haired woman was waving at her, napkin in hand.

"Howdy, stranger," the woman said, smiling. Immediately after there was a _thump _and the woman went "_Ow_, Babs. What even?"

The red head, who Artemis hadn't even noticed sitting beside her, just glared. "Rewind, Zee." There was a hint of fondness in her voice, which meant that this probably happened often.

"Oh." Her blue eyes widened. "_Oh_, oh God I'm so sorry, I didn't even think. We're probably strangers to you, aren't we?"

"A little," Artemis admitted, shifting her weight from one foot to another. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say next. As with Wally, there was a layer of things that she should know built into every interaction.

"Well I'm Zatanna, and this is my girlfriend, Babs. Once me and you went to New York City and kicked ass and named names and also saw ghosts." She blinked at Artemis expectantly.

"No bells are ringing, sorry," Artemis said.

"Why don't you sit down with us?" Babs asked. "And we can talk about things other than the time you two fought Harm."

"You weren't there?"

"Definitely not. I was just a diligent student then."

"Student genius, more like," Zatanna said. The two of them shared a soft, private look and Artemis suddenly realized that they were probably holding hands under the table. _Oh. _

"Yes, I'm a genius." Babs made the words sound like a fact. "But anyway, how have you been Artemis? We haven't had a girl's day in… a long time. You're welcome to hang out with us, after."

There was an olive branch of friendship mixed within the words. "I'm actually trying to get home. I'm really lost," she admitted.

"Oh! We can call Wally to come and get you. If you two are still…" Zatanna said, already pulling out her phone.

"We're still…" Artemis chose her word carefully, "something. It's been really… hard. Especially for him."

"I imagine so. I wouldn't know what to do if…" Babs looked at Zatanna, with meaning.

"Hey Wallman," Zatanna said into her phone, completely missing the look as she pushed some hair behind her ear. "Guess who Babs and I are holding hostage?" Zatanna paused. "Wrong. Think again." Another pause. "No, we have _Artemis_. She got lost and we lured her into our car with a piece of candy. Yep. Yep. And now we're at _Four Man's _with her. So come get here, with the ransom money we asked for. _Ciao._" She shut her phone. "He's on his way. And I'll bet he's going to be quick about it."

Artemis nodded, finally biting into her sandwich. She'd been disappointed at her old self's choice at first, which had seemed boring. Her usual had been a regular, grilled cheese sandwich. It wasn't until she'd finally eaten part of it that she realized that there were sautéed Portobello mushrooms underneath, giving the whole sandwich a whole new flavor. It was amazing, and she understood why this had been her usual.

"It's kind of funny that you came here. You and Wally recommended this place to us a couple of months ago, when Zee's tour was announced and Keystone was on the list."

"Tour?"

"I'm a magician, and I have shows generally in Las Vegas and Gotham. But I decided to do a tour, just to test the waters and see how people around the country feel about me. They've actually been pretty popular so far." Zatanna shrugged with one shoulder, taking a bite of her wrap with another. "I'm really lucky Babs got a day off to come to Keystone with me, though."

"You're acting like I haven't seen your show a thousand times."

"But it never gets old, does it?"

"Nope. Never." There was sarcasm underlying her tone, but Babs' voice was so warm that it hardly mattered. "You should come to the show tonight. Now that you've forgotten everything it'll be a whole new experience."

"Maybe," Artemis said, knowing that it just wasn't going to happen. There was yet another thing that she should know but didn't. Within the whole conversation there were gaps where Artemis should have been able to jump in, but hadn't known how because they were all references to things that she didn't remember. Babs managed to cover the gaps smoothly, but Artemis knew that they were there.

A silence fell over them, then, not just a gap, but a canyon. Zatanna opened her mouth to say something, but before she could Wally walked into the restaurant. Artemis breathed a sigh of relief at his face, the first that she ever had, and smiled at them.

"Hey," he said, smiling at all of them. "What's up?" He took the half of Artemis' sandwich that she hadn't touched and bit a piece out of it. She glared at him, annoyed, but he didn't even notice.

"Hey, that's mine! Go get your own."

"But it tastes better when it's yours."

"I'm sure."

"Aaaaand, that's our cue to leave," Zatanna interrupted. "When the passive aggressive flirting starts we all know what comes next." She winked. "See you guys tonight, maybe?"

"Maybe," Artemis repeated. For some reason she felt faintly embarrassed, and she had no idea why.

.x.

"Soooo…" Wally started.

"Sooo," Artemis repeated.

"I'd like to take you on a date, tonight. After we go to the Cave."

"We're going to the Cave? Why?"

"To train. If that's cool with you."

"It's fine."

"And I need to talk to M'gann. About an idea I have. About you."

"About _me_?" Artemis raised an eyebrow.

"And your… condition."

"I told you, the doctors don't know if I'm going to get my memories back or not!"

"It's just an idea, A. It's okay."

"Fine," Artemis said. "Fine."

.

Megan ended up being all for the idea, which didn't surprise Wally. "That sounds like it could work. Or at the very least, help. Remember, though, it might not help. I don't know how severe anything is. The memories might be lost forever."

Wally swallowed hard at the very idea of it. Artemis grew warmer to him by each passing day, but the idea of her not remembering everything they went through… scared him. More than he'd admit, even to her.

Because, with their history not behind them in her mind, what if she found someone else? Someone that she liked more, someone that didn't expect anything of her, someone that didn't want her to remember him. He hadn't felt this insecure about them in years, not since he was in high school and Wally West was known on a daily basis as a loser, and there were some days that someone like Artemis would want to date him.

He found Artemis at the shooting range, two quivers full of arrows beside her, and empty one at her feet. Wally watched her for six arrows, before he called out, "Hey!"

Her arrow didn't even waver. "Hey yourself."

This was the first time since she'd come from the hospital that Wally had seen her absolutely and positively happy. She was smiling, gripping her bow, and it reminded him of how she used to look at him.

"I must have gotten really good. I didn't miss an arrow. I don't remember using my bow this much but I must have a lot."

"Muscle memory," Wally said with a shrug. "Sooo, I have an idea. About helping you get your memories back. Megan's a Martian, a really strong one. And she might be able to help. If you want her to, that is. If you don't, that's okay too. But. I just…" _I just want you to remember me. Please do it. _

Artemis studied his face, before nodding slowly. "Okay. I'll do it."


	4. four

**Author: **thecivilunrest

**Fandom: **Young Justice

**Story Title: **"Walk in My Direction"

**Summary: **I won't tell your heart where to go, or make it feel something it won't.

**Character/Relationship(s): **Wally West/Artemis Crock, M'gann M'orzz/Conner Kent, Kaldur'ahm/Lorena Marquez, Zatanna Zatara/Babs Gordon, Ollie Queen/Dinah Lance, Mary West/Randy West, Dick Grayson, Roy Harper, Lian Harper, Jade Crock

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Language

**Story Word Count: **3200+ (this chapter) 1100+ (so far)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything recognizable. Young justice belongs to Warner Brothers and all other affiliated titles.

**Notes: **Look! A chapter that was published in a reasonable amount of time. Who woulda thunk? I just want to note that at this point on this story is completely AU. It will have nothing to do with the second season, because when I started this story I hadn't realized that there was going to be a five year time skip. So when you read this just throw everything from season two away. (Except for the ADORABLE Wally/Artemis part of _Salvage_. If you want to PM me and squee about that go ahead. You guys should have seen my tumblr that day, lolol.) And yeah, thanks for all of the reviews last chapter, they were greatly appreciated!

_Walk in My Direction_

Artemis had to admit that she wasn't completely sure that she wanted to do this. Having her mind probed wasn't the first thing on the to-do list this morning, but here Artemis was, doing it.

The way Wally's face had lit up when he asked her probably had something to do with it, more to do with it than Artemis wanted to think. She liked Wally—really and truly liked him. He was a great guy, and despite the fact that she caught him watching her, as if he looked hard enough the girl that he knew would come back, he had been treating her as normally as possible. But she knew that he loved her and she... didn't know how she felt about him.

This was all so confusing, her knowing him but not, and it was largely unfair to him. But he kept trying anyway, and that was what made her decide to jump off the deep end and have a Martian unravel her lost memories.

M'gann, Wally had to tell her the girl's name, smiled at her when she walked in, and Artemis smiled back. Somewhat. Megan gestured to a sterile, white table in the middle of the room. A beat passed, and then Artemis realized that's where she was supposed to lie down on.

"Are you sure, Artemis?" M'gann asked. "You have to be really, really sure. I've never done anything like this before. I know I can, but..."

Artemis nodded before taking a deep breath. She could do this. She could. "I want to."

But laying there on that table she just felt so...exposed. Her memories were private, especially the ones that she could remember. Artemis wasn't embarrassed of the place that she'd come from. She loved her mother and her sister with all her heart, even if they weren't always the best people.

She was just ashamed. She came from a long line of criminals and even though that wasn't her now it still made her squirm. Just thinking about someone that she barely knew digging around and uncovering all of the things that she'd worked so hard to put a sheet over made her want to say _no_.

M'gann's eyes glowed and Artemis felt _something_ in her mind. It wasn't painful—just uncomfortable. The whole thing was very clinical. Random memories would jump in front of her eyes and then go away, like they weren't even there. The presence in her mind was heavy, but faint at the same time.

Instinctively she grabbed Wally's hand, which was resting beside her on the table, and the action soothed her a little bit. And then she remembered who he was. What she was doing. She tried to pull away but Wally smiled at her.

"Muscle memory, remember?" he whispered, and she tried to smile back.

Deep breathes seemed to help Artemis ignore the presence in her mind, and so did the feel of Wally's hand. It was warm and strong and her heart sped up slightly when he was touching her. They'd never really touched before, not for this long, and it felt amazing. She wondered what hugging him would feel like—probably wonderful. But she was too scared to ever find out.

"I see the problem," M'gann said, and her voice seemed to come from far away. It took Artemis a while to get out of her funk and she blinked to be able to focus. Her mind was clear. "The mind is an interesting thing. It's not just one memory after another after another in compartmentalized boxes. Everything is connected, like a web. One thing leads to another thing that leads to _another _thing. Everyone is made up of a sum of all of their experiences, that sort of thing.

"But what happened to Artemis, I suppose when she got into her accident and her brain hit her skull, is that suddenly to a certain point the memories were cut off, behind a wall. They're still there, but she can't reach them. The wall is thick and dark—not something that she can climb over or drill through no matter how hard she wants to try. That wall is going to have to crumble if she wants to get to those memories. And I can do that, but there's no guarantee that everything is going to be a-okay. So I'm going to need your permission to go farther."

Artemis frowned while she took that all in. Megan's words about the human mind made sense—to a point. She looked at Wally's face, still holding his hand, and tried to make a decision.

"What do you want to do, A?" Wally asked. Artemis tried not to look at him, because she didn't want to see what his face looked like. She didn't want it to sway her decision.

"No," Artemis finally answered. "I _don't _want you to go farther."

Wally's hand slipped from hers and she almost protested, but decided that it was for the best if she didn't. His back was to her and his shoulders were shaking. "It's just... everything might not go right, Wally. And what if they don't? What if deciding to do this takes me away from you forever?"

He whipped around. "That's not why you're not doing it, don't even pretend like it is. You just don't _want_ to remember. I see how you look at me sometimes, you know. Like you feel sorry for me. Like you don't know who I _am_. You don't even want to _try. _I'd do it for you, you know. I would."

"Would you? Would you _really_? Think about it—would you have done this for me when you had known me for only two months?"

"The last time that I knew you for two months I was fifteen and an idiot," he replied which Artemis took as a big fat _no. _

"See? You wouldn't."

Their voices were rising steadily and Artemis caught M'gann trying to inch out the door. "M'gann," she said, knowing that putting her on the spot probably wouldn't be the best idea, but it was worth a shot. "What would you do?"

"I don't have any say in this," the Martian said, putting up her hands. "But if I did... I would try. For Conner." And with that she walked out the door. Artemis realized how badly she had shot herself in the foot with that one. She should have been expecting it, really.

"Well I'm still not going to do it," Artemis decided. "And it's not because of you. It's because... what if I'm not someone that I recognize anymore?"

"Do you recognize who you are right now?" Wally asked before walking out and leaving her alone.

.x.

The path to Dick's place was easily remembered. Wally had spent plenty of time there when they were just hanging out, whenever he and Artemis got into a fight, whenever Dick had parties. He had gone there angry before, but it had never been like this.

Wally had hardly knocked on the door when Dick answered. "You don't look whelmed," his best friend told him, and Wally wanted to kick something.

"We went to go see Megan today," Wally started, not even bothering to explain what was going on. "And so Megan figures out what the problem is. Artemis, or her brain, whatever. She's blocking the memories. The memories that have me—us-in them. And it's just like she doesn't _want _to remember. She could have gotten them back, everything, but she decided not to. Megan said that there was a possibility of complications, but I would have done it for _her._"

"Yeah, but it's not like you're practical. At all. And Artemis is. So let's say that Artemis did it, let Megan do whatever she needed to do to let Artemis have her memories back. You said there were complications, right? Well what if one of those complications happened? What if something went wrong and she was a vegetable, or didn't remember anything at all? Then what? She wouldn't be Artemis anymore, would she?"

"Now you just sound like _her_," Wally grumbled. That was always the thing about Dick—he would listen, but he'd never put up with any of Wally's crap. He'd never been overly sympathetic or been afraid to tell Wally when he was wrong. It drove Wally up a wall sometimes, but he always appreciated it in the long run.

"That's because she was right. Just... you can't push this, man. What if you push her away?"

"I... don't know."

Wally honestly couldn't answer that. He'd been with Artemis for seven years without a break. Ever since she was fifteen she'd been a part of his life, and he didn't really remember what it was like without her. Other than the fact that he'd been a huge douche.

"Then don't push her into anything. Don't rush her. It's only been... what? Two months since she got home?"

"I just want her to be in love with me again, that's all," Wally whispered.

"What have you been doing to _help _her fall in love with you?"

"I've been being...myself?"

"Well there's your first problem," Dick said, and then they both started laughing. When they stopped, and Wally had wiped the tears off his cheeks Dick told him, "You say that she's not trying...why don't you try harder? The only thing that you have to lose is her."

.

When Wally got home Artemis looked like she was in the middle of the arts and crafts center in Wal-mart. There was a big, bright orange poster and markers and... was that _glitter_? Artemis must have hit her head harder than he had thought if she was using _glitter_.

"When did you suddenly get the artsy fartsy bug?"

Artemis looked up, and smiled at him. She seemed relieved that he wasn't still mad, and he was glad. He hadn't really been mad at her, not really, not even though he'd started shouting at her. He had been more angry at their situation, at the unfairness of it all. Wally had Artemis so closer—and yet so far. She'd never been the woman that she had been, not really.

But he loved her anyway. Nothing could change that. It was his fate.

"One, I can't believe you just said 'artsy fartsy' and two, it's not what it looks like." Artemis rubbed her cheek with the back of her hand, leaving a trail of silver glitter behind.

"It looks like Hobby Lobby just threw up all over you."

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, that too. But I've decided to make a time line."

"A time line?" Wally wasn't following.

"Yes, a time line. You know like what you make when you're in second or third grade to show how far you've come, from when you were a baby or whenever? Well I've decided to do that too. I'm starting from my birthday and moving onward."

Artemis put her hand on the poster. "I mean I don't have a lot of baby pictures and after I'm fifteen everything kind of...leaves. I've probably told you this before, but the last thing that I remember is fighting those robot monkey things and then suddenly it's all...gone." She looked down at her fingers. "I was hoping that you could...help me. For everything after that, I mean. If you remember."

"I remember _everything_," Wally said, with probably more feeling than was necessary. Artemis looked up at him, surprised.

"I'm glad. That you're going to help me, I mean."

"Well, first things first, you need to be clean. You've got some glitter right... here." He reached up to touch her cheek with his thumb, just to wipe the glitter off, but she gasped and her lips parted. Wally could feel his stomach tighten, and her breath on his cheek. He was _so _close.

She seemed to want him to, because her face moved up, almost instinctively.

It would be so easy, he thought, to just kiss her right now. He was only inches away from her mouth.

But he pulled away. She wasn't ready. Hell, he wasn't sure if _he _was ready. He'd only realized today that things were never going to go back to normal, that Artemis probably wasn't ever going to remember him the way that he wanted her to. Who knew if she'd even love him the way that she used to.

"There," he said, aching at his missed chance. "It's all gone."

.x.

The time line had given Artemis an idea. Maybe not one of her better ideas, but it was still an idea.

Even though she'd asked Wally to help her, and he had been, he wouldn't tell her _everything_. Not in unflinching detail. She hadn't asked him about her mother yet. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear it from him. At least, not yet. She didn't want to hear it from someone that wasn't family.

That's why she asked, even though she knew the entire time that it was a bad idea.

"Where's my sister?" The question came out of the blue, while the two of them were working out at home. Even though Artemis had to drop out of her semester of law school because of her accident, she still wanted to be fit enough just in case she had to go help out the Justice League. They hadn't asked for her help yet, but she had to be prepare if they ever did.

"Jade?" Wally blanched at her name. "She's in Blackgate. In Gotham."

Artemis's eyes widened. She had prepared herself for a lot of answers, but not that one. "Jade got caught. She's in _prison._"

"Yeah. She made herself really easy to catch. Like she _wanted _to get caught."

"Wow." Artemis grabbed a dishtowel from the floor and wiped her face. "I just, can't believe it."

"Do you want to go see her? I'm sure she'll be able to tell you more than I will."

Artemis nodded. She did want to see her sister, especially now that seeing her would be so easy, so _convenient_. Jade in prison. Artemis never thought she'd see the day.

.

Going into Gotham was tough, tougher than she thought it would be. Even though she'd been able to use zeta tubes being so close to home, or at least the home that she fully _remembered_, was painful. Paula wasn't buried here, or else she'd have gone and visited the grave. Wally told her that she'd had her ashes spread at sea, the way that she'd requested in her will.

Seeing Blackgate, in all of its formidable glory, was even harder. She never expected to see her sister here.

The guards inspected her and made her walk through a metal detector, which Artemis had always thought was stupid but was just standard procedure, before letting her walk through the doors and sit at one of the tables with the phones and the glass walls.

Jade walked up slowly, carefully, like she had all the time in the world. When her sister realized that it was Artemis sitting on the other side of the glass, she smirked and picked up the phone. "You're early for your yearly visit, little sister. What gives?"

"I visit yearly? Really?"

Damn. She hadn't meant to say that out loud.

Jade raised an eyebrow. "Yes. Don't you remember?"

"I don't remember anything," Artemis admitted, deciding that lying to her sister wasn't ever going to be an option. Artemis never could lie—it was a gene from both sides that Jade had taken all of, leaving none behind for her young sister.

She explained her accident, and Jade looked surprised before she smirked again. Artemis was starting to really hate that expression on her sister's face. "So your little fairy tale bubble burst. Color me surprised."

"Yeah." Artemis tried to move past that as quickly as possible. The memory of Wally's mouth being that close to hers only a few days ago was still sharp. "I need you to help me... fill in a few holes. If you know what I mean."

"Alright," Jade answered, shifting in her seat. "Give me one. Just this once I'll be honest."

"First... what happened to Mom? When I woke up from my accident I thought she was alive...only she wasn't. She was dead. And no one's told me anything other than that, so I'd really like it if you'd please tell me what happened to her."

Jade's face softened for a moment. Mom was always a weakness to her, a chink in her armor. "Mom died from heart disease," she said flatly. "It runs in her side of the family. One day she just...died. It was probably my fault, of course. I broke her damn heart." The final sentence was full of enough bitterness that she didn't know what to say.

Artemis wanted to protest, she was shocked that Jade would ever think of something as her fault and not just try to laugh it off, but maybe her sister had matured. So she didn't say anything at all. It was probably better that way.

For a moment she had to focus on not crying. She could cry when she got home, but she refused to cry here, in front of her sister. Even crying in front of Wally would be preferable to this. At least he would try to make her feel better.

Artemis had never really let herself miss her mother, but in that moment she did. She missed her mom's stories, how she'd known so much but had to teach herself. Paula had just wanted better for her daughters, and Artemis hoped that she made her mother proud.

"Okay," she finally said, trying to swallow her tears. "How did you get here? I mean, you of all people... in prison? Really?"

"Don't judge me, you have no idea what happened," Jade said with a laugh. "You'd have done the same thing. _Mom _would have done the same thing. She probably _did_." Jade paused, as if she had to think about this.

"I have a daughter now. Her name's Lian. I couldn't take care of her, not with the way that I lived, not with my job. So I had to give her up, to her father. It was better that way...for a while. But I love Lian, and I don't like not being with her. But I couldn't be with her. Roy wouldn't let me, and I wasn't about to steal her from him. So it was either this place and seeing my daughter... or not. I chose my daughter."

"Oh."

"Is that all you can think to say, really?" Jade challenged. "I can see you judging me. I know how much better than me you are, how much more proud Mom would be of you than me. So that's enough questions today, Sis."

Jade hung up the phone and motioned to the guards, leaving her sister behind yet again. It still hurt. Every time.


	5. five

**Author: **thecivilunrest

**Fandom: **Young Justice

**Story Title: **"Walk in My Direction"

**Summary: **I won't tell your heart where to go, or make it feel something it won't.

**Character/Relationship(s): **Wally West/Artemis Crock, M'gann M'orzz/Conner Kent, Kaldur'ahm/Lorena Marquez, Zatanna Zatara/Babs Gordon, Ollie Queen/Dinah Lance, Mary West/Randy West, Dick Grayson, Roy Harper, Lian Harper, Jade Crock

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Language

**Story Word Count: **2500+ (this chapter) 1300+ (so far)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything recognizable. Young justice belongs to Warner Brothers and all other affiliated titles.

**Notes: **Oh gosh guys, I really am sorry this took so long. Time and life just kind of flew by? But we're almost at the end, and I'm going on vacation next week so I'll probably be able to write some more then. And remember, please remember, I said that this was going to be a ball of fluff and angst and ridiculousness. (I kind of apologize for this chapter, by the way.) Also thank you all so much for the reviews, they really mean so much!

_Walk in My Direction_

It was stupid to be nervous. He knew that it was stupid to be nervous. He'd asked her on dates before, many in fact.

He remembered the first time that he asked her. It'd been about a week after he'd picked her up and kissed her on New Year's Eve. Things had been mostly the same between them—mostly. Things had been more awkward after.

Wally, the smooth and suave sixteen year old that he had been, had slid next to her on one of the couches of Mount Justice. "Sooooo, do you want to go on a date? With me? Somewhere? Probably in Happy Harbor though, since it's closest and we could get there no problem. But I mean, if you want to go to Gotham we can go to Gotham. Or Central. Any place is fine with me, really, as long as I'm with you." He couldn't seem to stop his mouth, but she put a hand on his leg which shut him up.

"Happy Harbor is fine." Artemis had smiled, amused. "Where do you want to go?" His mind drew a blank at her question. He quite honestly had not thought that far ahead. "I think the Grill is fine," she answered for him when she saw that he wasn't going to answer.

"Sounds good." He tried to smile, but it had been hard because he couldn't even get a date started right. They agreed to go after practice, since it was a Friday night and there were no villains for them to defeat, the Light strangely quiet after everything that had happened at the Watch Tower.

As they walked from the portal in the alleyway near the school Wally agonized about whether or not he should take Artemis' hand. They weren't a couple, all they had done was kiss on New Year's Even and plenty of people did that without getting into a relationship, but her hand kept brushing against his and he wanted to grab hers and never let go.

The Grill was half-full when they got there, but they fell into a booth just the same. A waiter came, "What can I get you?" he'd asked Artemis, putting his hand on the table and grinning at her, which ticked Wally off to no end.

Artemis was _his _almost-girlfriend-or-at-least-the-girl-I-kissed-on-New-Year's-when-we-almost-died thing. Well, not his, not like a dog that you picked up on the pound, but really. Wally _totally _had dibs. "I'll have a Coke," Wally cut in, and he said it rude or something because Artemis kicked him under the table. "_Ow_," he hissed. "What?"

"I'll have a water, thanks," Artemis told him and when he walked away she glared at him. "What are you _doing_?"

"He was totally flirting with you!"

"And? So what if he was?"

"Well you're _my _girlfriend." Welp. That wasn't supposed to come out like that, or at all, really. He had been repressing thinking very thought, because what if she hadn't _wanted _to be his girlfriend. They had been stepping on a very fine line for weeks now, but neither of them had crossed it. Before right then, when Wally had put his foot in his mouth. That was a problem, really. If it wasn't food it was his foot, really.

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "I am?"

"Yeah." Wally tried to shrug, to play this off like it wasn't a big deal.

"You haven't asked me yet," she countered.

He took a deep breath. "Alright then," he started. "Artemis Crock."

"Don't make it sound like a marriage proposal!"

"Hey, do you want me to ask you or not?" When she didn't say anything he continued. "Artemis Crock, will you be my girlfriend."

"No."

"_No_?" His voice cracked. She said no. She said _no_...

"I'm just kidding, of course I will." She smiled, and then laughed at his expression. "It was a joke!"

"Not a very funny one," he muttered, but she had still looked pleased with herself.

When the waiter came back she told him, "Look at my _boyfriend_, isn't he great?" and Wally had laughed at the guy's face. A weight on his chest had lightened after that, but it was great to be with Artemis and to be officialabout it. No more beating around the bush. The rest of the date had gone smoothly after that, and their relationship was just as easy as it had been before their kiss. Maybe even easier, because they weren't hiding anything anymore.

But that was then, and this was now. Now, they didn't have the easiness that they had then. It had been months of pain and awkwardness and confusion for both of them. Especially with their fight last week about Artemis trying to work through the block that held her memories.

Half the time Wally wasn't sure that Artemis even _liked _him, but he had to try. He still loved her, loved her so much that it hurt now to have see her sometimes look at him like he was a stranger.

The both of them would just have to have a clean slate now. He couldn't expect things from her anymore. She was still Artemis, and he still loved her, and he would have to work with that.

But asking her on this date...he really _was _sixteen years old all over again. Wally wiped his hands on his jeans before clearing his throat. Artemis was looking through her pictures, at ones of the two of them and trying to figure out what went where. She usually failed, though, and he always had to fix them.

"Hey, sorry for interrupting, but I was just wondering," he cleared his throat, trying to get the nerves to go back to the dark pit from whence they came. "Do you want to go on a date with me? Maybe tomorrow?"

Artemis looked down at the picture in her hand—which was one of his favorites of the two of them. She was looking up at him, one eyebrow raised, while he was talking to someone off camera, his arm around her. Then she looked up at him again and put the photo down. "I'd love to."

"Great. Erm. I don't know where we could go, though. I mean, somewhere that we've been before would be nice, but I don't think that's the best thing. And I know that you like Four Man's, but that's not really open at night except for deserts and I was hoping we could go at night. For dinner. I want to go to dinner, and."

Deja vu was upon him.

"I saw a Chinese place down the street," she said. "Have we ever been there before?"

"The Panda's Revenge? No." _You always thought the name sounded stupid_, he thought, but he didn't say anything because the last thing he wanted to do was offend her. Especially when he was asking her on a date.

"Then we should go there. It could be... fun." She smiled at him for a long time, before asking, "Hey, do you want to help me with this?"

So he did.

.x.

Artemis was more excited about this date than she wanted to admit. This was their first date—actually, the first date that she could ever remember going on other than a few trips to McDonald's with boy's that didn't matter—and that thought made butterflies explode in her belly. The Panda's Revengeseemed like a nice enough place, so she put on one of the few dresses that she had.

Wally was wearing a green button down shirt, the sleeves rolled up, and some nice dress pants so evidently he'd gotten the same memo she had.

"Wow," he whistled when he finally saw her, which caused her to blush slightly. "You look really beautiful."

"Thanks." She tried to stop fidgeting with the bracelet on her wrist. "So, do you want to start walking there?"

"Are you sure you don't want me to run us there?" he teased. "I could carry you bridal style."

"Did we usually do that?" Artemis hoped not, but she couldn't know, but when she saw his smile she knew that he had been just joshing with her.

"No. You'd kill me, and I probably would have messed up your hair or something. Let's go."

Their hands brushed together as they walked, and she felt like grabbing his just for something to do. The air was quiet between them, but not awkward and uncomfortable. Or at least, not any more awkward and uncomfortable as people that had never been on a date had a right to be.

A fast, "Hello and welcome to The Panda's Revenge! For tonight's appetizer there is an order of organic spring rolls and chicken egg rolls served with sweet and sour to the side! The main course consists of General Tso's Chicken, fresh squid sauteed in peanut sauce and Lo Mein. Desert is bananas in a cinnamon coconut sauce. Please find the table specified on the piece of paper, numbers are placed on the walls, and have a nice night," greeted them as soon as they walked in the front door. The hostess, short and slight as she was, waved them through and started talking to the people behind them.

"What number did we get?" Artemis asked.

"Ummm. I don't know, it's in Chinese?" He scratched his head. "I guess we'll have to find it by looking at the wall like she said."

That took a while, the place was a maze of decorations and fountains and in the corner there was a small bamboo forest growing, which was of course covering some of the numbers. But as soon as they found the right place they sat down, and food was brought to them almost immediately.

After taking a tentative nibble Artemis decided, "So this is really good? I mean it has a chaotic atmosphere and finding your table is about as hard as finding the Holy Grail but it's almost worth it."

"Oh yeah," Wally said, munching through his third egg roll.

"Dates are always like this with you," she said, smiling as she placed her elbow on the table and her face in her hand, "aren't they? Me watching you eat, I mean."

"And being vaguely disgusted," he said, which made her laugh. Maybe she wasn't hiding the look on her face as well she thought.

"So. Um. How has school been for you?" It still rankled that she'd had to drop out of her last semester because of her injury, but it was really unavoidable and she would have failed regardless. She'd been reading some of her textbooks, however, and while she couldn't believe she really had read all of this and taken classes over it, the facts themselves were almost familiar.

Justice really had been her schtick, hadn't it? During the day and the night. And she liked that about herself, because she'd always thought she could be more than what her family had been. Seeing herself break out of the Crock mold, even in little ways, made her feel good about herself.

Wally shrugged. "Busy. You know. The usual. We've mostly been learning about the newest research on the proton and electron dynamic and what they mean to the atom."

Then the main course came, and all talking was off the agenda. Really, watching him eat wasn't all _that _bad. At least he had manners and things didn't dribble off his face and onto his clothes, though watching him chew so fast was a bit nauseating.

Dessert was probably the best thing that she'd eaten all night, despite the fact that the other places had been amazing. She left completely full, and having learned some things about Wally around all of the food that he'd been devouring. He'd even finished her dessert off for her, when she couldn't eat it all.

"We really should go there again," Wally said as they walked home after paying.

The fact that he said it so casually sent a shock up her heart, but she completely agreed. "Definitely. I mean, it was enough food for you _and _it was good _and _I think it was decently priced. So absolutely, we should go there again."

The words hung between them, and they were heavy because they _meant _something. Artemis meant something other than what she told him straight out, and they both knew it. Saying that they should go somewhere, anywhere again, meant that she wasn't going to leave him any time soon.

She had started caring about Wally, which was hard to believe, but she had. They had gone a long way through her recovery, and she liked him. He was funny and kind and the slightest bit ridiculous, but that was just the way he was always going to be.

They got into arguments, sometimes, but never anything big or loud or explosive, excluding the one about M'gann helping her get her memories back. They were just stubborn and convinced that they were the only one that was right, so that didn't help anything. But she didn't care about any of that.

Artemis almost—she almost loved him. Or at least she knew that she _could_. She had fallen once, and maybe, just _maybe _she could do it again.

She finally grabbed his hand once they made it to the front of their apartment building, and a smile bloomed on his face after he gripped her fingers back.

When they got to the door they lingered there instead of going inside. "Sooooo," Wally started.

"So." Artemis smiled. "I think you should kiss me now."

"Are you sure-" he began, but she cut him off by standing on her toes and mashing her lips to his. The angle was awkward, at first, but soon his arms were around her and her fingers were in his hair and the kiss was slightly tentative at first, though things eventually grew heavy.

With her eyes closed, that's when she started seeing things. Him almost falling on top of her, a shack in the middle of a barren desert, a red beret and the jungle, the feel of his gloved hands on her shoulders, wind as it whipped its way around them, a clock announcing that it was midnight...

"Definitely sure," she breathed when they finally parted. The sensations of the images—what _were _they?-and his kiss had left her breathless. He smiled at her until and then an explosion of pain appeared in her temple. "_Fuck_," she said, unable to help herself because it just hurt _that _damn bad.

"Are you okay?" Wally hovered, clearly upset, as if this was his fault.

"Fine," Artemis grunted. "I just need to get inside. And some tea. I need tea."

Something inside of her felt like it was breaking—she just didn't know what.


	6. six

**Author: **thecivilunrest

**Fandom: **Young Justice

**Story Title: **"Walk in My Direction"

**Summary: **I won't tell your heart where to go, or make it feel something it won't.

**Character/Relationship(s): **Wally West/Artemis Crock, M'gann M'orzz/Conner Kent, Kaldur'ahm/Lorena Marquez, Zatanna Zatara/Babs Gordon, Ollie Queen/Dinah Lance, Mary West/Randy West, Dick Grayson, Roy Harper, Lian Harper, Jade Crock

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Language

**Story Word Count: **900+ (this chapter) 15000+ all together

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything recognizable. Young justice belongs to Warner Brothers and all other affiliated titles.

**Notes: **It's done! I can hardly believe it myself, haha. This was such a crazy ride. My first chaptered fic for YJ is complete, and I'm _really _happy about that. It took me a while but that's it haha. I decided to finish this fic for Wally/Artemis Week because it's better than writing a fic for the prompt "grass." (Totally Annica's idea.) I also want to give a huge shout out to Claire, who listened to me talk about this story and helped me get through some bumps in the road, haha. And anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this because it's finally (_finally, __finally_) complete. Eep!

_Walk in My Direction_

The cup of tea in her hand warmed her whole body. She tried to focus on that, the warmth, instead of the bile that was creeping its way up her throat and the unsteadiness that had taken over her vision.

"Are you _sure _you're okay?" Wally asked, his worried face suddenly in front of hers. He sounded far away, like he was in the next room instead of in front of her.

"I'm fine," she gasped, and put a hand on his shoulder so that she didn't fall. Things were spinning, spinning fast, and her head felt like it was cracking in two. Her grip tightened, and she heard Wally make a noise of pain.

He called her name, but he was even farther than before until she couldn't hear him. The roaring in her ears drowned him out and the crack in her forehead throbbed until she saw nothing at all.

.x.

Wally hated seeing Artemis in hospitals. He'd done it too often this year, but at least this time he was there for the entire thing. He got to ride in the ambulance, and he'd held her limp hand the whole way there.

He'd only been separated from her for a while before he'd gotten to see her again. He might have had to pull a few strings and fudge a few things, but it was completely worth it.

Seeing her prone in her hospital bed reminded him of the accident, though, and how terrified he'd been. He hadn't wanted to leave for a second, but he'd had to. And he'd had to stay in his Flash costume for twelve hours too long. He couldn't have just left her, though. She never would have left him.

That was why he was here with her now, sitting in one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs, hoping to God that she woke up. The doctors didn't seem to know what was wrong with her, just something about head trauma. Again.

Wally had told them about the way that she had said her head hurt, but he hadn't thought that her injury could happen again, especially when no force had been put upon her. They had just been walking home from their date. They had just kissed.

That was it.

He growled in frustration. He hated this. He hated waiting and he especially hated seeing Artemis unconscious. Again.

He wasn't even paying attention when her heart rate spiked, or when she opened her eyes. He wouldn't have noticed that she was awake until she put her hand on his arm. He jumped at the touch, but when he saw Artemis okay all he felt was relief.

_Please don't tell me that you forgot me again_.

But she couldn't have. Not with the way that she was looking at him. It was the way that she looked at him before, and the way that she had been coming to look at him again. The sight of it clogged his throat.

"I remember," she said.

Wally didn't do anything for a minute. He couldn't, physically couldn't. "How?" he finally croaked out, and tried not to tear up.

"Remember what M'gann said? It was true. I remember _everything_. Every stupid moment. Like us kissing on New Year's, and how I was afraid that you hated me after everything with the mission we went on with Roy and Kaldur. Our first date, when we went to prom together even though I didn't want to at Gotham Academy, but you and Nightwing insisted for some reason. _Everything._"

"I'm glad." He tried to smile at her, but he wasn't quite sure what his face was doing.

"I just want to know one thing, though," she said, stopping him from leaning in so that he could kiss her. Because _God _he wanted to kiss her. She bit her lip. "Would you have kept loving me, if I hadn't remembered?"

There was no way that he could know the answer to that, not really. Not ever. But he couldn't tell her that, so he told her the thing that was the closet to the truth.

"It's always been _you_. I don't love the things that you remembered about us, or anything like that. If I had met you last year, or today, or if I was going to meet you tomorrow or years from now. I would love _you_. Because you're _you_. Everything else doesn't matter. But you do. You matter."

He didn't have to lean in this time. She did it for him.

_**Fin.**_


End file.
